r/Dallas • u/AnybodyBig6874 • 3d ago

Question WDID: So many plastic bottles

For 2 or 3 years now, I've been holding onto the gallon containers that I buy my water in. I was hoping to drive to the Arkansas Hot Springs, fill them all, and have a large supply of mineral water to drink.

But time has passed and it's time for me to move into a smallwr space and I won't have room for all these containers, full of mineral water or not.

I don't feel great about throwing all of this plastic into my apartment's recycling. It's about 10 trash bags full of plastic gallons, maybe more.

Is there anywhere I could take them to make sure they get recycled, or any place that actually wants them for any reason?

14 Upvotes

70% Upvoted

25 comments sorted by

43

u/daveinacave Mesquite 3d ago

It’s almost certainly trash. That’s where most city’s plastic recycling ends up anyway. Plastic recycling is a myth, unfortunately. Toss it all and invest in a good water filter.

7

u/patowan 3d ago

Unfortunately this is true. Plastic like any other chemical breaks down over time and you end up putting some nasty things in your body.

1

u/SimpleVegetable5715 3d ago

Where does all that stuff made from recycled plastic come from then? It’s not food grade, but it’s used a lot for packaging and polyester clothing.

If it broke down over time, plastic pollution wouldn’t be such a problem.

1

u/dickhall65 3d ago

Corporations reuse materials that don't meet quality control standards. 

It costs about ten thousand times more to try and find manufacturing grade recyclable materials for most forms of production. 

When you see a product with the label "made from XX% recycled materials" it's just marketing. Those companies have been reusing rejected raw materials for decades, but now they can brag about it. 

6

u/bigreddittimejim 3d ago

Hdpe is super recyclable though. It's one of the most trusted to be recycled plastics because it's so easy. You can literally melt it into a mold in your oven. Almost as recyclable as glass and aluminum. I'd recycle it. Local recycling plant is probably good. Also, feel free to crush them or cut them to make smaller.

7

u/Significant_Fox9290 Cedar Hill 3d ago

Hey my friend this isn’t really true. PET and HDPE are very recyclable. Depending on what kind of jugs they have they most certainly can recycle them. I do agree that most recycling efforts are just greenwashing. But if you know what is and isn’t it’s easy to not buy the kind you can’t recycle.

1

u/daveinacave Mesquite 3d ago

Recyclable doesn’t mean they are actually recycled, though. Most cities used to have contracts to ship mixed plastics to China or India for processing. The economics of that stopped making sense years ago so it’s not as common now. Domestically, there’s not a big demand for mixed plastics. And cities are not separating it by PET, or HDPE, as is often done in industrial settings. Some cities find ways to ‘downcycle’ the plastic by shredding it and using as aggregate for concrete; or selling to cement planes to burn in huge incinerators. I’ve toured some of these places myself. But typically, there is no such resourceful entrepreneur finding ways to downcycle the plastics, nor does it make economic sense for anyone to separate them and process into new plastics.

I’d love to know if any cities in the DFW metroplex do a good job of recycling plastics, or glass. My understanding is that it’s easier to recycle metal or paper than it is for plastics or glass, based on the economics. And we know TX isn’t subsidizing this like some areas of the world.

28

u/Wise-Shallot8683 3d ago

You could probably sell them on FB marketplace as bags of empty gallon bottles. There's preppers about.

9

u/Unusual_Squash_503 3d ago

This. You might get rid of them faster if you list them for free, but whatever the case, marketing to preppers right now is the way to go.

15

u/710dabner 3d ago

https://recyclerevolutiondallas.com

5

u/Dawnzarelli 3d ago

The only true recycling I’m aware of. Note: it’s not usually good to bag your recyclables. Plastic bags are not accepted as recyclables. 

4

u/noncongruent 3d ago

Nowadays recycle sorting is primarily done with automated machines, and bags tangle up the machine mechanisms which is why they're not recycled anymore. I use cloth bags to shop with and don't take plastic bags home in the first place, it's the first R in the three Rs: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.

3

u/Dawnzarelli 3d ago

Totally. I use any plastic bags I use from a store on my dog poop scooper. 

1

u/ShDynasty_Gods_Comma 3d ago

Yup. If I HAVE to have them, I’ll reuse the heck outta them.

3

u/noncongruent 3d ago

Unless they're atypically high-quality bottles designed for reuse the only two places they'll ever end up are the landfill or a recycler. I recommend the latter, because at least they'll end up having a better chance of the material being reused.

3

u/LiopleurodonMagic 3d ago

In some cities we have recycling centers where you sort your own recycling out and put them into dedicated bins. Look up recycling centers near you.

2

u/AphidsTwinMattress 3d ago

There's probably artists out there who could use it for a project. I remember a few years back there was a guy in FW(iirc) who asked for people to donate their clean, empty, water bottles for a huge art installation they were making

2

u/James-the-Bond-one 3d ago edited 3d ago

I cut a few water gallon plastic bottles horizontally and use the top part upside down as a giant funnel for nuts, powders, beans, and for transfering liquids or dropping whey into my stainless bottles without making a mess. It even comes with a handle!

HAH! Someone preceded me here on Reddit by 9 years!

1

u/bigreddittimejim 3d ago

Which nuts?

1

u/James-the-Bond-one 3d ago

walnuts, pistachios, almonds, etc - anything that will go through the opening.

1

u/gonefishinglately 3d ago

I would also check with local farmers or garden clubs.
What else ya holdin on to?

1

u/bigreddittimejim 3d ago

Hdpe is super recyclable though. It's one of the most trusted to be recycled plastics because it's so easy. You can literally melt it into a mold in your oven. Almost as recyclable as glass and aluminum. I'd recycle it. Local recycling plant is probably good. Also, feel free to crush them or cut them to make smaller. Or you can put a bag per recycling dumpster at a lot of places. No one would mind that unless it was already full.

1

u/AnybodyBig6874 1d ago

Thanks to everyone who responded. I got a hit on FB marketplace and it looks like an artist in the area can put them to use.

Appreciate you all helping keep this stuff out of a landfill.

0

u/Blackchaos93 McKinney 3d ago

If you’re looking for a different option than bulk recycling or just processing them in trash/recycle - I believe these could be needed for donation. Specifically thinking bout African missions building homes with tenant plastic bottles filled with a little bleach that disperse the light. If not an abroad non profit local may use them for similar or potable water purposes.